IN-SILICO ANALYSIS OF THIOESTERASE GENES AND QUANTIFICATION OF SHORT-CHAIN FATTY ACIDS (SCFAS) PRODUCED BY LACTOBACILLUS SP

Abstract

Microbial metabolites like SCFA have garnered a lot more interest for having the potential to control a range of systematic functionality, including immunological systems to neurological actions. The current study explores the possible SCFA-producing genes, broadly known as thioesterases, available in Lactobacillus sp. and clustering them into different families. The Lactobacillus strains available in the laboratory are evaluated for their production of SCFA over a range of time. Two of the identified thioesterase genes in Limosilactobacillus fermentum NKN51 and Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus NKN58 are cloned and expressed in E. coli BL21 AI. The purpose of this study is to explore the molecular background of lactobacilli through In silico analysis and a wet lab-based approach to establish the genetic level information in functional protein form.